Pub quiz

A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub. It is a largely British phenomenon, at its peak in the early 1990s. Pub quizzes are still very popular and they may attract people to a pub who are not found there on other days. The pub quiz is a modern example of a pub game. Though pub quizzes can cover a range of formats and topics, they have many things in common.

Quizzes for individuals or small teams

The format

Pub quizzes (also known as trivia quizzes) are often weekly events and will have an advertised start time. This time is often only approximate and it may be up to half an hour after it that any quiz-related activity begins.

First of all, one of the bar staff will come around with pens and quiz papers, which may contain questions or may just be blank sheets for writing the answers on. A mixture of both is common, in which case often only the blank sheet is to be handed in. Often the pub expects paper should be split in two - one half to hand in and one half to be kept as a record of the answers.

Teams

It is up to the patrons to form teams, which are generally based on tables, though if one table has a large group around it they may decide to split up. Some pubs insist on a maximum team size (usually between six and ten). The team members decide on a team name, which must be written on all papers handed in.

Payment

People often have to pay to participate - typically £1 or £2 per person. This is often used as prize money (see below).

Rounds

There may be between one and about half a dozen rounds of questions, typically totalling 50 or 60 questions. Rounds may include the following kinds (most common first):

Factual rounds - these are usually spoken, either over a public address system or just called out. Common topics are:
- General knowledge - covering the topics listed below (if they're not a separate round) and also topics like history, geography and science. There may well be more than one of these rounds.
- Sport - comprising the statistics and minutiae of popular, well-known sports and general facts about others.
- Entertainment - movies, TV shows and music.
Picture round - these use photocopied or computer-printed hand-outs and consist of pictures to be identified, such as photos of various famous people or logos of companies.
Music round - these consist of songs played over the PA system. Usually the teams must identify the song and the singer or band.
Puzzle rounds - generally on a hand-out sheet. Typically these consist of crossword puzzles, anagrams and basic maths problems.

Question setting

The questions may be set by the bar staff or landlord, be taken from a quiz book, be bought from a specialist trivia company, or be set by volunteers from amongst the contestants. In the latter case, the quiz setter may be remunerated in the form of beer or a small amount of money.

Often questions may be drawn from the realm of 'everybody knows' trivia, therefore leading to controversies when the answers are false or unverifiable. In addition as the quizzes are not formal affairs, slight miswordings may lead to confusion and have led to a recent court case ^* in the UK.

Marking

In some cases, the papers are marked by the bar staff. Alternatively, teams may have to mark their own answers and the handed-in papers are consulted only to check that prize claimants haven't cheated by altering their answers. Another method is to have teams swap paper before marking, though this can be divisive.

1 or 2 points are scored for each right answer; some quizzes allow half marks for 'nearly right' answers (such a celebrity's surname given as an answer when their full name was required). In some quizzes, some questions score higher marks, particularly if they are unusually difficult.

Prizes

Prizes are awarded to the highest scoring team, and possibly runners-up as well. Prizes are usually one of the following:

alcoholic drinks: a case of beer or some money on a bar tab to spend at that pub are common
cash: if money was charged for entry into the quiz, this is often pooled to form prize money. This may all go to the winning team. Alternatively, there may be a separate short set of questions or even a single 'jackpot' question to win the cash; if no team gets the right answer, the money is typically rolled over, making a larger prize the next week.
drink-related promotional items sent by a brewery, such as t-shirts and beer glasses advertising their products
miscellaneous or novelty prizes, such as chocolate or cheap toys. The winning team may get first choice to pick a prize from a range on offer.

Another format for quizzing is called "infinite bounce". This format is generally used when the number of teams in the quiz is large - usually around 8-10. Every question is addressed to the team succeeding the team that answered the previous question. If no team answers the question, the next question is addressed to the team succeeding the team to whom the previous question was addressed.

Quiz leagues

A quiz league is an organisation that that runs quizzes, normally in pubs, though such competitions are distinct from the standard pub quiz as they will normally involve two teams and often include a number of individual questions. No prizes are normally awarded at such a league match, but prizes and kudos may go to the quiz team winning a league or a Knockout competition.

External links

Quiz games | Pub games | British culture | Quizbowl

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